Like all art forms in Indian culture, Carnatic music is believed to have a divine origin, thus it has its origins in the Vedas. According to some scholars, Carnatic music derived certain classical music concepts from ancient Tamil music. The concept of Pann is related to Ragas used in Carnatic music. The rhythmic meters found in several musical forms and other ancient literature, resemble the taals that are in use today. In Carnatic music, the pann-Indian bhakti movement laid a substantial basis as far as the use of religious themes is concerned, while major developments post 13th century also contributed to its divergence from Hindustani music.

After the musical treatise, the Sangita-Ratnakara of Sarngadeva (1210-1247), the word Carnatic came to represent South Indian Classical Music as a separate system of music. Around the latter half of the 14th century, Carnatic music was seen as a part of distinct forms of Indian classical music, which flourished in the southern capital cities, particularly in Vijayanagara and Tanjavur. A number of musical treatises describing the concepts of Carnatic music were written. The present form of Carnatic music is based on historical developments that can be traced to the 15th - 16th AD and thereafter.

Carnatic raga elaborations are generally much faster in tempo and shorter. The opening piece is called a varnam, and is a warm-up for the musicians. Then, devotion and a request for a blessing follow, then a series of interchanges between ragas (unmetered melody) and thaalams (the ornamentation, equivalent to the jor). This is intermixed with hymns called krithis. This is followed by the pallavi or theme from the raag. Carnatic pieces can also be fixed; these are famous compositions that are popular among those who appreciate Carnatic (especially vocal) music. There are many aspects of Carnatic music, which are as follows:

1. Sruti: This Sruti commonly refers to musical pitch, which is the approximate equivalent of a tonic (or less precisely a key) in Western music; it is the note from which all the others are derived. It is also used in the sense of graded pitches in an octave. While there are an infinite number of sounds falling within a scale (or raag) in Carnatic music, the number that can be distinguished by auditory perception is twenty-two. In this sense, while Sruti is determined by auditory perception, it is also an expression in the listener`s mind.

2. Swara: Swara refers to a type of musical sound that is a single note, which defines a relative (higher or lower) position of a note, rather than a defined frequency. Swaras also refer to the solfege of Carnatic music, which consist of seven notes, "sa-ri-ga-ma-pa-da-ni" These names are abbreviations of the longer names shadja, rishabha, gandhara. madhyama, panchama, dhaivata and nishada.

3. Raag System: A raga in Carnatic music prescribes a set of rules for building a melody. It specifies rules for movements up (aarohanam) and down (avarohanam), the scale of which notes should figure more and which notes should be used more sparingly, which notes may be sung with gamaka, which phrases should be used, phrases should be avoided, and so on. In Carnatic music, the sampoorna ragas (those with all seven notes in their scales) are classified into a system called the melakarta, which groups them according to the kinds of notes that they have. The ragas are grouped into sets of six; called chakras ("wheels", though actually segments in the conventional representation) grouped according to the supertonic and mediant scale degrees. There is a system known as the `Katapayadi sankhya to determine the names of Melakarta Raags.

4. Taal System: Taal or Tala refers to the beat set for a particular composition (a measure of time). Taals have cycles of a defined number of beats and rarely change within a song. They have specific components, which in combinations can give rise to the variety to exist (over 108), allowing different compositions to have different rhythms. Tala is formed with three basic parts (called angas), which are laghu, dhrtam, and anudhrtam, though complex talas may have other parts like plutam, guru and kaakapaadam. There are seven basic tala groups, which can be formed from the laghu, dhrtam, and anudhrtam:

5. Kriti: Carnatic songs (kritis) are varied in structure and style, but generally consist of three units, which is Pallavi, Anupallavi and Charana. This kind of song is called a keerthana or a Kriti. There are other possible structures for a Kriti, which may in addition include swara passages named chittaswara. Chittaswara consists only of notes, and has no words. Others have a verse at the end of the charana, called the madhyamakala. It is sung immediately after the charana, but at double speed.

6. Varnam: This is a special item, which highlights everything important about a raga; not just the scale, but also which notes to stress, how to approach a certain note, classical and characteristic phrases, etc. Though there are a few different types of varnams, in essence, they all have a pallavi, an anupallavi, muktayi swaras, a charana, and chittaswaras. They are sung in multiple speeds, and very good for practice. In concerts, varnams are often sung at the beginning as they are fast and grab the audience`s attention.

Apart from the main aspects, there are also four main types of improvisation in Carnatic music.

Raga Alapana: This is the exposition of the raga of the song that will be performed. A performer explores the raga first by singing lower octaves then moving up to higher ones and touching various aspects of the raga while giving a hint of the song to be performed. It is a slow improvisation with no rhythm.

Niraval: This is usually performed by the more advanced concert artists and consists of singing one or two lines of a song repeatedly, but with improvised elaborations.

Kalpanaswaram: The most elementary type of improvisation, usually taught before any other form of improvisation. It consists of singing a pattern of notes, which finishes on the beat and the note just before the beat and the note on which the song starts.

Thanam: This form of improvisation was originally developed for the veena and consists of expanding the raga with syllables like tha, nam, thom, aa, nom, na, etc.

Ragam Thanam Pallavi: This is a composite form of improvisation. As the name suggests, it consists of Raga Alapana, Thanam, and a pallavi line. The pallavi line is sung twice, and Niraval follows. After Niraval, the pallavi line is sung again, twice in normal speed, then sung once at half the speed, then twice at regular speed, then four times at twice the speed. Kalpanaswarams follow.